Godzilla returning to the silver screen - again

CB Droege, 17th July 2012

Legendary Pictures has confirmed that it is in the process of remaking the classic monster film.

The teaser screened by Legendary was exclusive to Comic-Con San Diego, so all we can do at this point is describe it.

Essentially, the footage was of a destroyed cityscape, standard sci-fi fare, with a narrator quoting Oppenhiemer upon the successful splitting of the atom:

"I knew the world would not be the same. A few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the lines of scripture, Vishnu takes on multi-armed form, and says ‘Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.’"

Cut to the profile of a giant lizard monster who resembles the classic Godzilla figure - the one we would recognize just from the profile, rather than the giant lizard from the Broderick film.

With that, Legendary confirmed the remake is currently in development. He gave no other details, however, and the only promotional material we have is a sort of minimalist poster. The teaser will likely find it’s way onto the 'Net soon, but until then, we’ll just have to imagine.

Godzilla is one of those movies with such a basic storyline that it can be remade again and again, and still be fresh if done correctly. With the Oppenhiemer quote, it sounds like Legendary is taking the original ‘mutated monster created during the destruction of a city via nuclear explosion’ version of the plot (rather than the ‘terrible weapon of mass destruction created by scientists, and accidentally unleashed’, ‘attacking alien’, or ‘creature from the deep below’ plots that also exist in Godzilla lore).

"We’re just gonna take it very seriously," director Gareth Edwards said at Comic-Con. "I’ve wanted to see Godzilla like this all my life, really. The idea is, if this really happened, as crazy as it sounds, what would it really be like? There’s nothing sci-fi about this movie; it’s very grounded, realistic."

Of course, what he presumably means, without knowing the genre jargon, is that he intends for the film to be actual science-fiction, rather than science-fantasy. Either way, it seems like Edwards is really into making this work, and turning it into something that fans will enjoy.

"I haven’t worked this hard, this long, and been this emotionally invested in something that lasted a few seconds since I lost my virginity," Edwards said of the short teaser video.

Godzilla is still in development, with no casting decisions, production dates, or release dates announced.